Topic: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (photo: Reuters)

Modiʹs identity politics

Islamophobia threatens to engulf India

Indiaʹs constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, but the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not care. Run by Hindu-supremacists, it is enforcing aggressive anti-Muslim policies. By Arfa Khanum SherwaniMore

India's Muslims under Narendra Modi: Swan song for GandhiInterview with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy: "India is much more dangerous than it was ten years ago"Hindu nationalist election victory in India: Modiʹs credo of divide and rule
Indian boy carrying an image of Gandhi in Bangalore (photo: dpa/AP/A. Rahi)

India's Muslims under Narendra Modi

Swan song for Gandhi

150 years after the birth of the Indian freedom fighter, the Hindu nationalist government in Delhi has distanced itself from Gandhi's legacy of peace more than any other preceding administration. This is highlighted by the continuing systematic marginalisation of Muslims in India. By Dominik MullerMore

Police launch probe after Gandhi cut-out defaced in India Interview with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy: "India is much more dangerous than it was ten years ago"Hindu nationalist election victory in India: Modiʹs credo of divide and rule
Archive image: India's Gujarat State Chief Minister Narendra Modi looks on at the Gujarat University Convention Centre in Ahmedabad on 17 September 2011 (source: Getty Images/AFP/S. Panthaky)

Cultural politics in India

India's celebrities confront Hindu nationalism

In July 2019, with hate crimes against minorities in India rising sharply, 49 eminent personalities signed an open letter to Narendra Modi, stating that the slogan 'Jai Shri Ram' – Hail Lord Rama – a Hindu chant usually reserved for prayers or religious gatherings had become a war cry. By Amrita DasMore

Interview with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy: "India is much more dangerous than it was ten years ago"Interview with identity politics expert Mujibur Rehman: "Muslims feel deeply unsafe in present-day India"Freedom of speech under threat in India: An army of Hindutva trollsIndian culture seeps in via satellite: The blurred borders between Pakistan and India
Anti-India graffiti in Kashmir (photo: Marian Brehmer)

Modi and the revocation of Article 370

Kashmirʹs tormented quest for freedom

Since India scrapped its special status, tensions in Kashmir are rising once again. The conflict over the valley has defined the lives of Kashmiris for decades. Marian Brehmer reports from KashmirMore

Kashmir, Xinjiang and Arab lands in the Middle East: Victims of the civilizational agendaIndia and Pakistan: Nuclear war – a remote, but real threatIndia, Modi and the Muslim minority: "Not yet a Hindu Pakistan"
Muslims gather at the Sharif Dargah shrine in the Indian pilgrimage town of Ajmer (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

India, Modi and the Muslim minority

"Not yet a Hindu Pakistan"

Many regard Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist policies as an attack on India's pluralism. But does that mean they must be completely discounted? Marian Brehmer reports from AjmerMore

Hindu nationalist election victory in India: Modiʹs credo of divide and ruleInterview with writer Rahman Abbas: Overcoming Indiaʹs social divideFreedom of speech under threat in India: An army of Hindutva trolls
BJP supporters in New Delhi celebrate Modi's victory (photo: DW)

Right-wing populism

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Modi won – but did India?

In Indiaʹs recent elections, the ruling NDA secured 45% of the vote. The fractured oppositionʹs message of inclusivity and justice was no match for Modiʹs brand of jingoistic populism. But what are the implications for Indian society? By Aditi Roy GhatakMore

Hindu nationalist election victory in India: Modiʹs credo of divide and ruleInterview with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy: "India is much more dangerous than it was ten years ago"Interview with writer Rahman Abbas: Overcoming Indiaʹs social divide
Indiaʹs prime minister Narendra Modi (photo: IANS/Twitter/@narendramodi)

Hindu nationalist election victory in India

Modiʹs credo of divide and rule

India is following an international trend: with the victory of the Indian Peopleʹs Party or BJP, we are again witnessing the success of a party that can clearly be located on the extreme right of the political spectrum and that is at the same time courted by international companies and economic heavyweights. By Dominik MullerMore

Interview with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy: "India is much more dangerous than it was ten years ago"Modi, the BJP and social media: Indiaʹs WhatsApp electionsIndian Muslims talk of leaving village as divide with Hindus widens
Arundhati Roy at the World Book Fair in Neu Delhi (photo: Dominik Muller)

Interview with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy

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"India is much more dangerous than it was ten years ago"

Celebrated Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, best known for works such as "The God of Small Things" and "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness", has also made a name for herself as an essayist and critic of the political situation in India. Dominik Muller spoke to her in New Delhi about changes in India over the last decadeMore

Interview with novelist and activist Arundhati Roy: "We're up against a fascist regime in India"Interview with identity politics expert Mujibur Rehman: "Muslims feel deeply unsafe in present-day India"Freedom of speech under threat in India: An army of Hindutva trolls
Indian writer Rahman Abbas (photo: rahmanabbas.in)

Interview with writer Rahman Abbas

Overcoming Indiaʹs social divide

More and more Indian writers are picking up on the right-wing theme in response to the growing strength of India's Hindu nationalists. Among them, Bombay-based author Rahman Abbas, who writes in Urdu and who scooped India's highest literary accolade in 2018 for his novel "Rohzin". Interview by Dominik MullerMore

Modi, the BJP and social media: Indiaʹs WhatsApp electionsIndia′s new hajj policy: Empowering minorities?Interview with identity politics expert Mujibur Rehman: "Muslims feel deeply unsafe in present-day India"
View of the Kaaba in Mecca (photo: Reuters/Muhammad Hamed)

India′s new hajj policy

Empowering minorities?

While the Hindu-nationalist government led by Narendra Modi has withdrawn the hajj subsidy to Muslims, public grants to members of the Hindu majority making pilgrimages remain in place. By Ronald MeinardusMore

Interview with identity politics expert Mujibur Rehman: "Muslims feel deeply unsafe in present-day India"Muslims in India: Nothing like equal opportunitiesAll-female madrassas: Of women, by women and for women
India′s prime minister, Narendra Modi (photo: Getty Images/AFP/R. Schmidt)

Hindus and Muslims in India

Why census data is a priority political issue

Years later than planned, the Indian government has finally released census data on religious affiliation. The published figures could be exploited by the country′s political parties for their own ends, thereby further straining relations between Hindus and Muslims. By Ronald MeinardusMore

Interview with the political theorist Rajeev Bhargava: "The BJP has to give up its obsession with Muslims"Conversion of Christians and Muslims in India: Homecoming or forced conversion?Narendra Modi and the Indian Muslims: Divisive figure could become India's next PM
The Hindu nationalist Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, during a BJP event in Ahmedabad (photo: Reuters)

Conversion of Christians and Muslims in India

Homecoming or forced conversion?

A heated controversy has been triggered in India over a Hindu nationalist campaign to bring Christians and Muslims "back into the Hindu fold". While the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains silent over the issue, organisations allied to his party continue to pursue the campaign. By Ulrich von SchwerinMore

India and "Islamic State": Indian Muslims not heeding the siren call of ISIndian Muslims' attitudes to the election of Narendra Modi: Apprehension and hopeInterview with the political theorist Rajeev Bhargava: "The BJP has to give up its obsession with Muslims"Narendra Modi and the Indian Muslims: Divisive figure could become India's next PM
Narendra Modi (photo: Reuters)

Narendra Modi and the Indian Muslims

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Divisive figure could become India's next PM

Narendra Modi was chief minister in the Indian state of Gujarat when anti-Muslim pogroms took place there 12 years ago. Today, he is the Hindu nationalist BJP party's candidate for the post of prime minister. Will this exacerbate India's inter-religious tensions? By Ulrich von SchwerinMore

The Babri Mosque Controversy in India: Sacred Ground for Muslims and HindusThe Hindu-Muslim Conflict in Bollywood Films: The Religious Conflict as a BlockbusterThe Indian Subcontinent's Colonial Heritage: Divide and Conquer

In brief

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Most Recent Photo Essay

A unique state: Jammu and Kashmir is the only Indian state in which the majority of the population is Muslim. Since its independence in 1947, India has seen itself as a multi-ethnic state. However, this self-image is shifting towards a Hindu nation-state: Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist BJP dominates politics, and in May it once again became the strongest political force

Kashmir: Living with the curfew

Since the leadership in New Delhi revoked the special autonomy status, previously laid down in the Indian constitution, for the state of Jammu and Kashmir at the beginning of August, the region has been subject to punitive restrictions. By David Ehl